India, with a vast coastline, cannot avoid natural events like cyclones and tsunamis. However, it can ensure that these events do not turn into calamities.
The cyclonic storm Nilam, which slammed into the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, has been tackled with relative success, and this shows in the way both human lives and livestock have been saved.
What a contrast with the supercyclone that hit the Andhra coast 35 years ago and claimed 10,000 lives and one lakh farm animals and left thousands homeless. The October 1999 Orissa supercyclone was also a significant episode of devastation. However, since then, a sea change has taken place in the country’s capabilities in the meteorological field, allowing for reasonably precise predictions that make timely warnings to coastal communities possible. Technological improvements have apparently been registered even since the tsunami of December 2004. This is as it should be for a nation with a long coastline.
While limits of human of intervention are easily exposed in the face of nature’s fury, as we just saw in the United States this week, clearly technological upgrades do save lives by helping us prepare better for disaster. Thanks to scientific planning both at laboratory and field levels, India has emerged as a regional power in cyclone and tsunami early warning systems. Early warning bulletins issued by the Cyclone Warning Directorate, and officials swinging into action to evacuate people from low-lying areas, together proved a laudable rescue formula in the face of Nilam. Effective coordination between early warning and disaster management was on display.
India, with a vast coastline, cannot avoid natural events like cyclones and tsunamis. It can, however, certainly ensure that these events do not turn into calamities and bring suffering to people. The Bay of Bengal is a danger zone. It gave birth to nine of the 10 most destructive cyclonic storms in recent human memory. This makes the job of Indian meteorologists even more challenging. Although this time we could successfully predict the cyclonic storms, the rate of accuracy needs to be enhanced further. This will help to zero in on the exact spot that a cyclone is expected to cross the coast, and advance official capabilities in reducing the adverse impact on local communities.
On the technological side, we have reached several milestones. And yet the ground reality is that most of the cyclone shelters are in dilapidated condition. The coastal road corridor linking coastal villages is still a pipedream. The proposed corridor would help in the quick movement of people and raise the quality of relief work. Coastal hamlets also lack in radio communication networks. Other coastal states could emulate Andhra in raising casuarina trees and mangrove, where possible, to act as a buffer against tall waves pushed by high winds. Technological improvements need reinforcement through administrative action and community-level capability enhancement.